Hey guys! I thought I'd show how I do this [flame] technique, as I've had a few requests.

First of this is not the same as the true fire technique but it is similar. Check out Wikkid's awesome tutorial for that. This is just my way of doing this.

Ok, so to get this going were going to need these ingredients:

Stencils: I use the True Fire by Mike Lavallee set. They're great, and they come with a fantastic DVD. Some people make their own, but I have found (for all the extra hassle) it's worth just buying some. I bought a few sets off eBay for about ten dollars, they're great, and solvent proof.

. . . . and of course, an airbrush!

Paints: Iím using solid white (I'm using Spazstix, but you can use any [kind], a solid black (for fixing mistakes!), transparent violet for the flames, and transparent blue for the highlights

For this Iíve done a quick spray of a Optimus Prime toy. It's worth pointing out that this works best on a black background, but feel free to experiment. Also, it's worth having some crappy toy on hand to practice your ideas before moving to the real deal.

Ok in picture #1 we have all the bits we need:

In picture #2, Iím using the solid white. As you can see, I've just traded a couple of shapes off each other here. Make sure not to directly spray the model - what your wanting here is the softer edge of the overspray so spray near the edge of the stencil. On another note, I'd recommend using a higher PSI for this than I did in this tutorial to get a neater more precise pattern (sorry guys, I rushed this):

In Picture #3, you can see some stencils have the flame ends. Use these more sparingly than I have. Iíve used them a lot here just to show how itís done, but the eye will spot repetition very quickly - so the more random you make your flames the better they will look. Also, try to keep them flowing in the same direction; inverted flames donít look good:

Picture #4 is what I meant by "inverted flames". This is what you want to avoid. Notice how the hard edge of one shape and the soft edge of another donít match up? Go in with your black and take this out if you make a mistake like this, or darken it down in the back with transparent black:

Picture #5 just [shows] developing the technique further. I purely used the stencils here, but itís good to add some free hand in there too, as you can see this on the finished picture of Nemesis Prime better:

Picture #6 shows how to make larger, more flowing flames. Itís worth noting that this type of pattern is also used to create smoke effects. Just invert the colors, and donít use the flame ends:

In picture #7 I've gone in with the violet, because these are transparent colors. There is no need to be precise here; just get an even side-to-side finish. We really want these flames to be set right in the back, so make these initial flames basic in design and quite dark. This will add to the depth of them at the end:

pic 8 iv gone back in with the white, added a few more licks (ha-ha sorry had to say that)here you can add new patterns and itís also good to hit some of your original parts here, this will help for the highlights but make sure you match up the stencils or it will get messy!

Picture #9 and #10 are the final step before finishing. Now, I've gone in with the blue and just picked out random parts of the flames that I want to stand out. This always looks cool and brings the pattern to life a lot more. Notice I have not covered the entire pattern. With the blue, less is more:

And the final picture (#11) is an example of something finished Iíve done with this technique:

I hope I've helped someone with this, and remember that Iím still learning this myself and am by no means an expert. So, just use your imagination, and Iím sure you talented guys and gals will nail this!